San Jose takes action after 8-year-old boy fatally struck by car while walking to school

Tuesday, September 20, 2022
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- After 8-year-old Jacob Villanueva was hit and killed while walking to school in San Jose on Friday, the city is taking action.

On Tuesday, city crews worked to repaint the worn-down crosswalk where it happened on Driftwood and Castlemont, just four days after the student was killed.



Photos of Villanueva hung just feet away from where crews were painting, surrounded by candles, flowers, and balloons at his roadside memorial.

"Drivers are just crazy, they don't stop," Lynnette Scott, a crossing guard said.

Jacob was just a block from his school with his babysitter when it happened.

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San Jose police say a woman was driving a black 2022 Mercedes and went left onto Driftwood Drive when she hit the pair.

The driver stayed on scene and is cooperating with the investigation, though it's unclear what led up to the crash.

"People just don't pay attention anymore they don't, I've had cars come at me, almost daily," Scott said.

Scott, whose daughter lives at the intersection where it all happened, has served as a crossing guard in the Los Gatos area for a decade now and she says, the city needs to take this a step further.

"I would say that would be the least they could do, honestly there need to be stop signs, it's very unsafe, as you can see," she said.

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Not to mention, she'd like to see a crossing guard dedicated to this intersection moving forward.

As of Friday evening, San Jose was at 50 traffic deaths this year alone, with Jacob's passing marking the first juvenile death.

"We have to keep the kids safe," she said.

A spokesman for the city says the Department of Transportation is also taking a closer look at trees and signs in the area, to see what else can be done to protect people crossing the road.

At this point in time, no arrests have been made in this case.

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